Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens (Abrams 2015) -- SPOILERS THERE ARE.

[Morris Schæffer]

[Morris Schæffer]

This is very good, hugely entertaining, not devoid of powerful moments, Daisy Ridley and John Boyega are very convincing, Ford is indeed in fine form as Han Solo, BB-2 is the good side of cute, but but but I'm having trouble getting over how similar this feels compared to A New Hope. Nonetheless, even that can be defended. I mean, compared to 30 years ago we're stilll driving cars except they've been perfected, become sleeker, more powerful, it stands to reason that people build upon that which came before and so it feels in Star Wars The Force Awakens. The space battles lack the purpose and climactic feel of the original trilogy, some plot developments, while pretty fucking shocking, feel like they've been carelessly chucked in there because Abrams felt he wanted to have some of that too, because hey, the old trilogy had that too! Still, that gets redeemed quite a bit later on in a rather emotionally gripping sequence. The final shot is really outstanding.

One moment where one of the characters uses force powers to escape was funny, but felt unearned. With Obi-Wan you know there was training and experience beforehand and thus you accept it. Here it felt almost like a spoof rather than something which awes us.

[transmogrifier]

This was basically A New Hope Reloaded.

[transmogrifier]

The first half is significantly better than the second half, which flattens into a dull retread of A New Hope with larger but less coherent action scenes. Before that, I was right on board with the introduction of the new characters and the character beats they are given; it's a deft mix of humor and place setting. The acting is much better than anything in ANH (except Gleason, who is terrible) with Driver in particular doing well with a more complicated take on Darth Vader. But man, does it ever end up taking all these great ingredients and creating a flavorless retread of previous glories in the second half.

I think the sequel holds a lot of promise now that the self-conscious fan service has been covered....

[number8]

The first half is significantly better than the second half, which flattens into a dull retread of A New Hope with larger but less coherent action scenes. Before that, I was right on board with the introduction of the new characters and the character beats they are given; it's a deft mix of humor and place setting. The acting is much better than anything in ANH (except Gleason, who is terrible) with Driver in particular doing well with a more complicated take on Darth Vader. But man, does it ever end up taking all these great ingredients and creating a flavorless retread of previous glories in the second half.

Interesting because I pegged it as a retread right away. The first half I thought was even more beat for beat following ANH, with Kylo's introduction matching Vader's and the important resistance information stored in a wayward droid found by a peasant. The second half actually mixed in some Empire that alleviated the remake feeling a bit.

The casting definitely did most of the heavy lifting in making it feel fresh. All cynicism I kept holding onto even right through the opening crawl disappeared completely as soon as Poe and Finn started interacting. This exchange happened:

"Good to meet you, Finn."
"Good to meet you, Poe."

Aaaaaand I'm all in.

I think the sequel holds a lot of promise now that the self-conscious fan service has been covered....

Definitely true.

[Morris Schæffer]

For those that have seen it, how come [

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R2D2 suddenly started to come alive by the end when an hour earlier he seemed to be inoperational?

]

[Dukefrukem]

For those that have seen it, how come [

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R2D2 suddenly started to come alive by the end when an hour earlier he seemed to be inoperational?

]

Because script.

We also dont have any idea why Kylo is so angry and wants to kill everyone. This will be explained in movie 2 right?

"I will finish what you started" would be a great line.... if you weren't Han Solo's son. Vadar was dead long before you were even born dude. What's your beef?

[Irish]

Funniest moment: BB8 giving the thumbs up?

For me, it was Poe to Kylo, right at the beginning: "So, uh, who talks first? Do you talk first or do I talk first or ...?"

Gwendoline Christie, completely underused. Why bother with that casting.

The amount of extraneous characters bugged me. Poe, Phasma, Leia, R2D2, C3PO, and Chewbacca weren't given enough to do. They could have easily turned up in the next film (or not at all).

Because script.

Big, weird rumor about why R2D2 came back to life:

[

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R2D2 lights up when Rey shows up at the Rebel base. Speculation is that happens because she's Luke's daughter. I hope that isn't true.

]

Edit to add: Can't believe I actually liked this more than you guys.

Also can't believe Duke didn't rank the movies.

[

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New Hope > Empire > Force Awakens > Jedi > Prequels

]

[Henry Gale]

I ain't reading none o' this 'til I see it Saturday.

Read the first line of your posts before thinking, "Nope!".... but I'm sure they're good thoughts.

[Mr. McGibblets]

All 4 of the new main characters are really good. Needed a lot more of Isaac and Boyega together.

[transmogrifier]

All 4 of the new main characters are really good. Needed a lot more of Isaac and Boyega together.

Didn't like what they did with Isaac's character story-wise.

[number8]

Didn't like what they did with Isaac's character story-wise.

The reveal landed so softly I thought they all just got bored with the whole thing.

[Dukefrukem]

All 4 of the new main characters are really good. Needed a lot more of Isaac and Boyega together.

Needed a whole lot more of everyone together. I hate them being apart! Isaac was basically removed from the entire major plotline.

Funniest moment: BB8 giving the thumbs up?

[TGM]

Funniest moment: BB8 giving the thumbs up?

I dunno, Chewie pretty much stole this whole movie from a comedic standpoint.

[Dukefrukem]

I dunno, Chewie pretty much stole this whole movie from a comedic standpoint.

Chewie and Han were great. But they were always great. The humor in movie 2 is gonna be so different.

[DavidSeven]

Don't get the critique. There are more than enough primary characters to occupy the meat of the story. Isaac's journey isn't central. Why do we need more or less of him? He's peripheral, not his story. Thought he was in it an appropriate amount, and casting a "heavy" in that smaller role made it memorable. I think it was entirely strategic. Cool performance, too.

[Philip J. Fry]

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the biggest bromance of our lifetime.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
J. J. Abrams, 2015.

Synopsis: J. J. Abrams' tries to erase the bad taste of the prequels. Can he do it?

What did I like? [

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Now that's an opening scene! This new Stormtroopers are amazing! Why did they never used flamethrowers before? Poe Dameron is fucking awesome and I'm glad he didn't die (and he's probably my favorite new character of the movie. Finn is a cool new character and is funny. Finn and Rey are adorbs. Kylo Ren is a very interesting new villain: more conflicted, very angry, probably for that internal conflict he has, his sword is cool. "Chewie, we're home". Lupita Nyong'o's character was very cool. Han and Leia have the best chemistry. HAN NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Finn is cool beans. Bill Weasley really likes to scream. Death Star XP. Hey, it's that one guy from Heroes! Hey, it's Admiral Ackbar! HEY, IT'S MILES FUCKING STRAUME!!!!!

]

What didn't I like? [

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Look, I'm glad we have a female Jedi kicking ass in this movie. It's a sign we are progressing and that at least some people are trying to branch out and give representation and Daisy Riley is a good actress. Unfortunately, I thought Rey was by far the least interesting character in the movie, Finn/Rey shipping nonwithstanding, and I can see why people is saying she is Mary Sue-ish: She doesn't seem to have many flaws, she can pick up, like, anything very fast, including the force, the Millenium Falcon and lightsabing (granted, Ren was very aweakened from Chewie's gunshot, the fight with Finn and specially, the internal conflict) and her little flashbacks and lack of a home is not enough to turn her into a very compelling character. She is basically a Jedi version of Goku.

]

What did I truly hate? An asshole at Bleacher Report (sports page) spoiled...
[

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Han's death. I'm still so, so, so pissed at that.

]

What am I wondering? [

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Is Finn a Jedi candidate? What will they do with Kylo Ren? What kind of stuff will Luke do? Can Leia do Jedi stuff? Will Lando appear in the next movie (he better appear in the next one)? Did you really get Max von Sydow for such a small part? Will he do more stuff? Will J. J. bring more LOST alumni (he better does)?

]

Final thoughts: The force indeed has been awaken.

P.S. [

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HAN, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

]

[Irish]

What didn't I like? [

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Look, I'm glad we have a female Jedi kicking ass in this movie. It's a sign we are progressing and that at least some people are trying to branch out and give representation and Daisy Riley is a good actress. Unfortunately, I thought Rey was by far the least interesting character in the movie, Finn/Rey shipping nonwithstanding, and I can see why people is saying she is Mary Sue-ish: She doesn't seem to have many flaws, she can pick up, like, anything very fast, including the force, the Millenium Falcon and lightsabing (granted, Ren was very aweakened from Chewie's gunshot, the fight with Finn and specially, the internal conflict) and her little flashbacks and lack of a home is not enough to turn her into a very compelling character. She is basically a Jedi version of Goku.

]

[

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I don't think Rey is a Mary Sue, at least not by the original definition of that term (she's obviously not a stand-in for JJ or Kasdan). I do think she's a touch overpowered, although they can wave most of that away in the next movie provided she's made to be "force sensitive." In the original movie, every character had a clearly defined role and skillset and personality. In TFA, several characters are good at the same things and have similar personalities.

But: one of the things I thought was legitimately funny was that Rey is so capable and Finn has no idea what he's doing. He pretty much sucks at everything, gets knocked down and punched out multiple times, and needs to be rescued more than once. I thought this was a neat contrast to Rey kicking so much ass.

]

What did I truly hate? An asshole at Bleacher Report (sports page) spoiled...
[

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Han's death. I'm still so, so, so pissed at that.

]

That is super goddamn lame of them, especially given it's really the only legit spoiler in the entire movie.

What am I wondering? [

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Is Finn a Jedi candidate? What will they do with Kylo Ren? What kind of stuff will Luke do? Can Leia do Jedi stuff? Will Lando appear in the next movie (he better appear in the next one)? Did you really get Max von Sydow for such a small part? Will he do more stuff? Will J. J. bring more LOST alumni (he better does)?

]

One of my bigger disappointments was that Leia was once again relegated to the sidelines. Her lines are mostly expositional, which is a far cry from where that character started. I hope the same thing doesn't happen to Rey.

Max Von Sydow's appearance made me chuckle. [

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The fanboy bloggers made such a huge deal of it when he was originally cast and his part is less than nothing.

]

[Philip J. Fry]

[

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I don't think Rey is a Mary Sue, at least not by the original definition of that term (she's obviously not a stand-in for JJ or Kasdan). I do think she's a touch overpowered, although they can wave most of that away in the next movie provided she's made to be "force sensitive." In the original movie, every character had a clearly defined role and skillset and personality. In TFA, several characters are good at the same things and have similar personalities.

]

If they give her way more to do and increase the stakes (sort of the same way they did with Luke on ESB, it will fix all the troubles I have with her.

[

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But: one of the things I thought was legitimately funny was that Rey is so capable and Finn has no idea what he's doing. He pretty much sucks at everything, gets knocked down and punched out multiple times, and needs to be rescued more than once. I thought this was a neat contrast to Rey kicking so much ass.

]

That was legitimately funny (it helps that John Boyega has a great comedic timing). And it's one of the things that makes both of them great together.

That is super goddamn lame of them, especially given it's really the only legit spoiler in the entire movie.

Yeah, totes. So malicious.

One of my bigger disappointments was that Leia was once again relegated to the sidelines. Her lines are mostly expositional, which is a far cry from where that character started. I hope the same thing doesn't happen to Rey.

I have hopes that on the next film Leia will have more to do. The more I think about it, this movie is more about introducing the new players for this new generation. In that regards, it makes sense to give the older cast less time (except for Han, for obvious reasons). In the next they can expand on the characters and Leia could see more time (I mean, someone has to take Han's screentime and both Luke and her can perfectly split said screentime).

Max Von Sydow's appearance made me chuckle. [

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The fanboy bloggers made such a huge deal of it when he was originally cast and his part is less than nothing.

]

[

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I could see him appearing more in flashbacks (I mean, J. J. and Rian Johnson are no strangers to said devises).

]

[number8]

I don't think you guys can understand what a big deal it is for me to see Indonesian actors in a real STAR WARS movie.

[TGM]

Again, like at Mockingjay, I find myself a bit surprised by the turnout. The theater was only about 2/3 full, if that. Hrm. :/

As for the movie, I'm gonna have to let it sit. There are certainly aspects that I really liked, and Rey could very well end up being my new favorite Star Wars character. But on the whole I'm not particularly blown away by it. Hmmm...

[TGM]

Having slept on it, I DO very much like this movie, but pretty much all of its glaring flaws stem from its over-familiarity with A New Hope. Sorta like how Into Darkness felt like it was more interesting in recreating Wrath of Kahn as opposed to telling a new movie, this one, too, feels more worried about throwing in references than it does in telling a whole new compelling story, which actually started to make me groan at points. That said, the cast very much DOES make this movie work, but I'm not sure Abrams was the right man for the job after all.

[Morris Schæffer]

Having slept on it, I DO very much like this movie, but pretty much all of its glaring flaws stem from its over-familiarity with A New Hope. Sorta like how Into Darkness felt like it was more interesting in recreating Wrath of Kahn as opposed to telling a new movie, this one, too, feels more worried about throwing in references than it does in telling a whole new compelling story, which actually started to make me groan at points. That said, the cast very much DOES make this movie work, but I'm not sure Abrams was the right man for the job after all.

I feel very confident giving this a ***½, but that does have somewhat to do with the fact that I've become more lenient, more aware of a general decrease in quality of major tentpole movies. I think this movie has an edge, something extra, a real heart, it's not an empty spectacle, but you are right about the bit I've bolded. The problem I think is actually even bigger than that. [

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Not only does it ape many of the moments from the original trilogy, not in the least the final X-Wing attack on a Death Star-like structure but that it doesn't even manage to come close to A New Hope, let alone Return of the Jedi in the space battle stakes is bothering me. Apart from some dated miniature work in those movies, the special effects during those attack runs are far more memorable, inventive with better spatial coherence and a far bigger sense of stakes and urgency. By repeating this element so rigidly here the outcome is entirely pre-ordained. We know precisely what's going to happen and it does without exception, without surprise. The concurrent mission with the principals remedies that quite a bit thank God because here it's kinda awesome and chilling, but the Space Battle attack on the Death Star was extremely poor. It's 32 years later since Jedi, why does this look worse?

]

[Irish]

HOT DAMN THAT DAISY RIDLEY. FUCK EVERYONE ELSE. JUST MAKE MOVIES ABOUT HER CHARACTER.

I agree with what everyone said so far. A lot of this plays like highly polished Star Wars fan fiction. They were shameless about it, and I think in the long run that hurts the film. Every time there was a chance for this movie to distinguish itself, it falls back to fan service.

That leads to a secondary problem: There are too many characters, and a lot of them overlap narratively. All of the new people are badly established and given very little context. What context they do have (Ridley is waiting for her family, Boyega is a traitor), doesn't really seem to matter. There isn't a clear protagonist either, which I guess matters less because there isn't a clearly defined story.

I loved the first hour or so, mostly because of Ridley, Boyega, and Isaac. Every time they were on screen it was tons of fun. When Solo showed up, I feel like they just tossed the script out the window and relied waaaaay too heavily on Harrison Ford's star power and the fan love of that character. It wasn't long before I began to actively began to resent his presence. Fuck Han Solo, I want to know more about Rey and Finn.

Favorite part: On that first planet, when Boyega moves to rescue Ridley, and then stops because he realizes that she doesn't need rescuing. The follow up was priceless -- "What are you doing? Let go of my hand!"

Weirdest part: Kylo Ren and some rando stormtrooper both yell "TRAITOR!" at Boyega like they're really pissed at him for running away. Guys, he was the fucking janitor. The guy who cleaned your toilet quit his job. Get over it.

The last hour was so much duller than the first, but that last shot --- man, I almost stood up in the theater and yelled, FUCK YEAH LUKE!

[

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Also, gotta add: HOLY SHIT WATASHI WAS RIGHT ABOUT ALMOST EVERYTHING

]

[TGM]

HOT DAMN THAT DAISY RIDLEY. FUCK EVERYONE ELSE. JUST MAKE MOVIES ABOUT HER

This, so much!